


Ebony and Impasse

by Invisible_Stagehand



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Infinity Gauntlet, Not A Fix-It, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Spoilers, Titan, balance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-06 22:31:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14657562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Invisible_Stagehand/pseuds/Invisible_Stagehand
Summary: Ebony Maw has great news for Thanos!





	Ebony and Impasse

Ebony Maw was miffed - yes, positively miffed - at how long it took him to recover from being thrown into space. It was embarrassing. It was undignified that he, the great and powerful servant of Lord Thanos, should be dropped between the stars and left to freeze like an errant dessert!

Not that the cold of space would slow him. But it was slow, so slow, for the protective spells he had woven about him to light and start to warm him, to merge his spiritual and magical core with his flesh and bring him back to life. Slow, to be towed through space to a ship (you never really realized how big it was until you tried moving around in it without a spaceship), and then take over that ship, and fly it to where he could take control of another ship, and another. Slowly working his way up on the scale of civilization, slowly working his way back to Titan, and Thanos' side.

It was early in his journey that he learned what event he had missed, and it made him shake with such delight he nearly lost control of himself. The war was over! The Gauntlet had been filled with power, and that power had cleaved the universe into a neat, sweetly balanced whole.

Ebony Maw had thought it would be the peak of his existence to see that victory. The aftereffects were glorious as well, and no matter his feelings, the war was over. Now ... now he sought only to bow before his Lord, one last time, and congratulate him.

Thanos was on Titan, as Maw had thought he would be. His great powerful frame, his heavy face, were all imbued with such an aura of peace and calm and rest that it made one want to rest as well. The essence of his being soothed the air and filled the land with tranquility, and little singing night-insects fluttered around him, piping sweet notes. He was a living idol, a sculpted deity to the great Balance.

"Ebony Maw," Thanos rumbled, in that never-to-be-forgotten voice. "So, you did survive. I'm glad."

"Yes, my Lord. My Lord, I-"

A careless wave of a purple hand cut him off. "Just Thanos, now. I do not need to be a Lord any longer."

Ebony mentally recalibrated, and went on. "I wanted only to share my delight at your magnificent, your spectacular accomplishment! The Balance has been struck, at last!"

"It has." Thanos' smile was wide and warm and infinitely beautiful.

"I was on Meoga before I arrived here, and I saw a newly-married couple slay their own parents while crying out your name. Oh, it was beautiful! Inspiring!" Maw clasped his hands together below what passed for his chin.

His reverie was interrupted by Thanos leaning closer. "Killing their parents? Why?"

Maw nearly preened himself at the opportunity to share such auspicious news. "But yes, by your will, if anyone bears a child, and that child is an affront to the Balance, it dissolves into dust before it draws its first breath! Only if a life is removed, to make way for the new one, is Balance maintained."

Thanos blinked, then squinted. "The babies are turning into dust?"

"Yes-"

"Now? STILL?" He leaped to his feet, shoulders blocking out the setting sun. "But it's over, over and done! I cleaned the Universe of half its life, and what goes on-"

Maw dared to interrupt. " - must be in Balance. It must, otherwise new life will fill up all the spaces of the universe again!"

Maw tittered, and then shrank back as thunder descended over Thanos' features.

"That was not what I did," he snarled, looming over his cowering minion. "I made the Balance so that people could live full lives, without starvation and overcrowding. Not so they could slaughter their own parents for the sake of their babies!"

"Oh, it doesn't need to be parents, oh no. Any life will do, to keep the Balance. Of course some people try to build up a buffer-"

Thanos turned without a word and marched back into the house; curious, Maw drifted after him. The Titan strode to a great crystal fireplace that stood in place of honor at the heart of the Titan's hall.

He reached out his hand to the mantle, the center of the house, visible from every part: and there was nothing on that mantle. Not a speck of dust, not a dead night-insect. Nothing.

He ran one bare hand over the cold crystal, unbelieving.

"It's gone."

**Author's Note:**

> Headcanon: Presetting the Infinity Gauntlet to 'balance the universe when I snap my fingers' was a mistake; the Gauntlet interpreted this command as keeping the universe in balance. And, in order to keep Thanos from giving it new orders and upsetting that balance, the Gauntlet removed itself to elsewhere.
> 
> Good luck finding it, Thanos...


End file.
